These things, I own, surprised me much; I fidgetted uneasily;
"Why, bless the man, he's had a shock!" said Mr. Stead, quite breezily.
"We do these things the whole year round, it's merely knack to do them;
A man who does them every day gets quite accustomed to them.
This room of mine is full of ghosts,"—it sounded most funereal—
"I've only got to say the word to make them all material.
I'll say it promptly, if you wish; they cannot well refuse me."
But my eagerness had vanished, and I begged him to excuse me.
"Now Julia," he continued, "is in many ways a rum one,
But, whatever else they say of her, they can't say she's a dumb one.